Riot Games' Defense of the Ancients-style RTS League of Legends will adopt a free-to-play model supported by microtransactions, the developer announced today.

League of Legends takes after Defense of the Ancients AllStars, the hero-oriented competitive RTS that still commands a strong following worldwide (and even has an official song). As a DotA-inspired title, League of Legends faces stiff competition not just from the other "DotA clones" on the market today - Heroes of Newerth, Demigod - but DotA itself. After all, why should DotA players pay money for games which, if you were being reductive and a jerk, are basically the same as the one you've been playing for years?

League of Legends' answer to that question is simple: you don't have to. Legends, which is being developed by ex-DotA and Blizzard staff, among others, will use the popular free-to-play model so many MMOGs have adopted recently. The game will be free to download, install, and enjoy, while added bonuses to the game will require players to fork over their hard-earned cash.

"One of our goals at Riot has been to set a high quality bar for core games that are available for free online as we believe that a relentless focus on delivering tremendous value to online communities will earn player loyalty," Brandon Beck, co-founder and CEO, Riot Games, said. "League of Legends is being built as a highly competitive core game that we believe will change many people's minds about the type and caliber of games that can be offered for free."

Riot Games is referring to this system, as it works in League of Legends, as the Summoner system. In the game, players take on the role of "Summoners," who call forth "champions" to fight for them in battle. Players, or, err, Summoners, earn Influence Points by playing the game - you use these points to upgrade your characters, etc. At the same time, you can use real money to buy Riot Points, which will unlock "rare visual customization options."

Riot says this "system is designed to empower the player with a huge number of mechanical choices that deepen the level of strategic thinking in the game."

Now, if you actually do want to spend money to play this game, you can buy the Collector's Pack, which will include exclusive content like Champion skins, Runes, Riot Points, as well as a number of Champions themselves. Hopefully those who opt not to buy the Collector's Pack won't be left in the dust.

Yeah I'm really looking forward to this game and would want to buy the collector's pack to support companies that are making their debut. They have a good game and from my experience in Demigod and DOTA I can expect this game to also be well done.

I like Demigod for the teamwork and straightforward gameplay but it lacks the subtlety of DOTA allowing heroes to go off and assassinate their opponents like DOTA has. Problem with DOTA is the lack of map variety which was great in Demigod. So I hope League of Legends looks at their competition and think how to both improve and emulate the competition.

Also the art direction is something I also like. I may not know modern art but I know that a game that is colorful and vibrant while providing a cartoony like style just looks fun to play.

It sounds like the microtransactions will be for extra or different things instead of better things. This is good.

These folks worked on the original DoTA, so they know a thing or two about game balance. They also probably know a thing or two about how said balance can be ruined by allowing people to pay for better things, instead of different things.

It's itneresting to see the new approach. As someone who likes free stuff, and someone who will pay for a product that earns my loyalty, I'd like to see this model catch on. I'm the kind of person who might play a good demo of a game for a year before deciding to fork out the cash for the real thing (I did this with Mount & Blade).

That said, I've never actualy played DoTA or Demigod. Though I might think about checking this out. As someone else metioned, having ex dota people counts for a lot.

I used to play DotA a lot on Warcraft 3, but stopped about a year ago. It was insanely repetitive and the community was absolutely horrid (Lots of trash talking, EVERY SINGLE PERSON used/abused banlists, etc.), but was fun while it lasted.

Free to play is very interesting, and its good to know money is used for visual bonuses instead of making your characters better than everyone else.

Still, I thought this was actually going to be a real retail game instead of a free to play kind of game. Oh well, all the better.

As mentioned, I got bored of DotA but maybe this time they can bring me back in. Ex-DotA staff and Blizzard staff is a plus.

Well since it's f2p I might look into it seeing as I have never played an RTS, I know for shame. Then again, I said the same thing about Neo Steam and unless it does get better, I am bored to tears from it after like 2 quests, one being a fetch quest. But because DotA sounded so interesting, it might be worth enjoying.

hopeneverdies:Well since it's f2p I might look into it seeing as I have never played an RTS, I know for shame. Then again, I said the same thing about Neo Steam and unless it does get better, I am bored to tears from it after like 2 quests, one being a fetch quest. But because DotA sounded so interesting, it might be worth enjoying.

Well, neither this or DOTA are really RTS. Actually, DOTA is more like a slower paced Diablo with teams than anything else. This will be an MMO version of that, so take that how you will.